local news
Yashanee
Yashanee’s mother, shaquita louis
is one of the strongest young people I have ever worked with…
“Nothing got in her way.”
Jensen noted that the family had been right behind her, coming to
the school daily to offer support.
Kevina read a poem calling Yashanee her Secret Angel.
“I can feel your presence around me,” she read. “I’ll forever hold
VIEW
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Watch on You Tube:
you close to my heart.”
Ionka Martin introduced the Yashanee Vaughn Committee, a
diverse group of women who had come together to support the fam-
ily through their loss.
“I want to ask our community not to judge people who don’t live
like you, who don’t act like you,” she said to applause.
A friend of Yashanee’s brother Damajio spoke for him, apologizing
for his absence.
Elder Elmer Yarborough drew the celebration to a conclusion by
focusing on the young people. He acknowledge that he made serious
mistakes in his own early years. And he urged teens to make good
choices. He urged young women to avoid giving up their self-respect
for their boyfriends. And he urged the young men to learn how to
deal with their anger and not take it out on their girlfriends.
“I can’t beat you with the same hand I’m supposed to hug you and
love you with,” he said. Yarborough urged all teens to pursue educa-
tion, get jobs and build careers.
After the ceremony, hundreds of people walked across the playing
field to see the release of 14 doves – one for every year of Yashanee’s
life.
Slide show • Celebrating the life of
Yashanee Vaughn
Videos • Elishua Goldsby sings at
Yashanee Vaughns life celebration
Videos • Good in the Neighborhood
2011 The Bonnie B Dance expressed
the exuberant spirit of Yashanee
Vaughn
and many more videos.
READ
Read the articles on theskanner.com
March 24 • Family, Friends Searching
for 14-year-old Black Female Missing
Since March 19
April 1 • Teen Emotions Run High On
Social Networking Sites After Police
Say Yashawnee Vaughn Murdered
and many more stories.
Giveaway
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ents understand what schools are trying to
teach their kids.
She thinks having resources outside of the
schools are essential to education.
“When kids see people in the community
that aren’t teachers then they’re not alienat-
ed,” says Leonard. “It’s an opportunity for
one-on-one teaching.”
There were a diverse array of people that
placed orders for textbooks including the
Muslim Education Trust, Head Start,
Trillium Charter School, Ockley Green
School, Humboldt School, home school
parents and a daycare teacher. A couple of
people were even collecting books to go to
schools in the Philippines.
Passers-by in the neighborhood also
stopped by and capitalized on the event.
One father was waiting at the barbershop
across the street with his two sons, who
attend Bethany Elementary School, when
he heard about Leonard’s book project.
“My boys are five and seven,” he says. “I
saw this as an opportunity to keep them
busy for the summer.”
State officials sanctioned 10 Portland
Public Schools last year under No Child
Left Behind. While most elementary
schools and middle schools have met their
targets, there is a significant drop off by
high school. Ten out of the 18 designated
high schools didn’t meet targets and four of
those schools were “repeatedly missed tar-
gets” and “must offer transfer or tutoring.”
State testing records show that the majority
of scores in math and reading are in the high
70s to mid 80s through elementary and mid-
dle school and then dip to mid 50s and
60s once in high school.
These low test scores are part of what
At the book giveaway last weekend, leonard’s goal was to inspire students to
apply and create from what they’ve learned.
inspired Leonard to do the book giveaway.
In the past she has worked with Powell’s
and the Urban League, doing book handouts
and summer tutoring.
She plans to help the Boys and Girls Club
run a tutoring program and is going to
approach the Park Bureau about math clin-
ics. Leonard hopes to help kids meet bench-
marks. She wants to get businesses
involved to hand out prizes and add further
incentive for students.
In the meantime she still has books to
give away. Leonard will be doing another
event in the same location this Saturday,
weather permitting, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
She will also be giving away books on Aug.
13 at the Matt Dishman Community Center
Block Party.
After she’s finished handing out the math
books Leonard plans to take inventory and
make a run for other subjects, including 6-
8 grade math curriculum and Spanish texts.
Her goal is to inspire students to apply
and create from what they’ve learned.
“Young children don’t have any questions
anymore,” says Leonard. “They’re just con-
sumers. What will be of the next genera-
tion?”
Williams
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DePass all making it clear that they were
not going away and their concerns were
something the city had to pay attention to –
I was real pleased,” he said.
“The main planning for community
involvement has gone into a larger
community forum and this is what
we’re hoping we’ll get a good turn
out from the community,”
Anderson said. “This is where we
want to get as many people out as
possible.”
He said the project management
may postpone the Sept. 6 stake-
holder advisory meeting until after
the forum so they can process all
the expected feedback.
Anderson said the city hopes the
advisory committee’s final report
will be concluded by the end of this
fall, but if it takes longer PDOT is
willing to extend it.
“What’s going on right now on North
Williams is that we extended the public
involvement because it became clear that it
was important to raise the level of inclusiv-
ity and respect to make sure the North
Williams community was at the table and
heard,” Anderson said.
He added that the overall project is about
road safety for all users – pedestrians, driv-
ers, cyclists and bus riders – and that there
is expected to be a crosswalk safety
enforcement mission on North Williams
Frederick said it is a victory that city proj-
ect managers stopped and listened to local
residents who have gone unheard for gener-
ations in the Albina area.
“We have seen these things in the past,
and if you just expect us to believe
that these things have not been
decided, we don’t believe you — in
the past the decision has been made
and then the idea is to go out and get
it sold to the community,” he said.
“The plans have been challenged,
it means that you’re going to have a
true public comment on this
process,” Frederick says. “That is
great.”
“I think to some extend this may
drive the process in east Portland,
where you see a large number of
people living there and we see a
large number of people seeing bike
projects just put through by the planners,
and we’ve seen some meetings where Black
and Latino people have stood up and said,
we will be part of this process,” Frederick
says.
“I think this sort of actually changes the
approach in a way that’s good.”
‘We have seen these things in
the past, and if you just expect
us to believe that these things
have not been decided, we
don’t believe you ..’
later this month.
“Crosswalk safety, automobile speeds,
bus/bike conflicts, and bikeway capacity —
we want people to come to meetings,
voice their opinions, ask clarification and
get involved in the project to make sure it is
what they want and what they feel is need-
ed.”
NORTH WILLIAMS TRAFFIC
OPERATIONS SAFETY
PROJECT
Project Purpose and Objectives
The purpose of this project is to make
traveling on North Williams Avenue
between Weidler and Killingsworth safer
and more comfortable for all users. This
project has six objectives:
To conduct an open planning process
through which all voices can be heard
by the City.
To reduce or manage traffic conflicts
between people bicycling, people driv-
ing, and buses operating on North
Williams.
To improve conditions for bicycling on
North Williams.
To maintain or improve conditions for
walking on or across North Williams.
To explore innovative solutions and
strategies.
To create conditions for transit service,
traffic flow, parking and active trans-
portation that support existing business-
es and future business development.
august 3, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3